5 ms·

Houston is the home of the US oil & gas industry and has one of the largest and most advanced medical centers in the world. There's a lot of money in Houston, a

by nilkn 4y ago

Houston is the home of the US oil & gas industry and has one of the largest and most advanced medical centers in the world. There's a lot of money in Houston, and the city has incredibly ritzy neighborhoods like River Oaks and Piney Point Village, among many others; keeping overall housing relatively affordable with so many affluent people competing for it actually is an accomplishment.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
I'm sure Houston works for you, but it just isn't the happening place on many people's radars. We could split hairs about its benefits; e.g. * Economy comes and goes with natural resource boom bust cycle. * America's most obese city * A huge sprawl with bad traffic and poor public transportation There are other cities that match some of those qualities that I don't much care for, but I can see why a lot of people wouldn't mind and go for the cheap housing there as a decent trade off. But in my original comment, my only point was that you can't judge how great a city is based on how cheap its real estate is (and the correlation often goes the opposite way).
- nilkn 4y ago
  The most expensive house listing for Gary right now seems to be for $575k; for Houston, it's $20 million, a difference of 35x. The average sale price in Piney Point Village is apparently just under $3.7 million (https://www.har.com/pineypointvillage/realestate https://www.har.com/pineypointvillage/realestate) and the average rent is $8500/month. So on and so forth. I think you're imagining all Houston real estate as cheap/affordable, when in reality the city has lots of extremely expensive real estate. It just also has affordable housing due to widespread construction of townhomes, apartments, and condos. Something like Gary just isn't comparable.
  - selectodude 4y ago
    Gary is a suburb of Chicago and comparing it to Greater Houston seems a bit absurd. Chicagoland has many units that are listed for $15+ million.
    - nilkn 4y ago
      I think you replied to the wrong person. I did not choose Gary as a comparison; rather, I explained why it was not an appropriate comparison.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    > I think you're imagining all Houston real estate as cheap/affordable, when in reality the city has lots of extremely expensive real estate. I wonder what sinking into the Gulf of Mexico is going to do for property values.
    - orangepurple 4y ago
      You're thinking of Galveston which everyone abandoned to go to Houston a decade ago
      - Maursault 4y ago
        Was the article about Galveston or Houston?
        orangepurple 4y ago
        Galveston will sink way before Houston
      - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
        Parts of Houston sinking is the original topic of this HN post, this debating of Houston's success is just a tangent.
- briandear 4y ago
  Fact check: Houston is not even in the top ten for obesity. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/10-most-overweight-us-cities.html https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/1...
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/houston-is-americas-fattest-city/ https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/houston-is-americas-fa... I'm not sure how the criteria are different, the above is looking at big cities. The other list seems to have a bunch of small cities (e.g. Jackson MS). The difference could also be in study year. Neither list is very surprising to me.
    - JamesBarney 4y ago
      The OP's post is from a hospital, your post links to a survey from a "Men's Fitness" magazine.
      - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
        Again, it is including a lot of smaller cities. So ya, we all know Jackson Mississippi is fatter than Houston Texas, but...do we really put Jackson in the same class of city as Houston?
        JamesBarney 4y ago
        In a list of fattest cities i imagine they'd be compared. In the list of fattest top 10 major metroplexes i imagine it wouldn't. (I also assume it's the fattest major metropolitan area?
- rurban 4y ago
  Exactly. I could easily afford living in River Oaks for a third of the price as in SF or the Valley. With much higher quality.
  - nilkn 4y ago
    It's definitely not a third of the price. There are definitely parts of the Bay Area that are more expensive, but certainly not every part. It's pretty close to Menlo Park in affordability or lack thereof. Property taxes are also 2x or more what they are in the Bay Area so you may be overestimating your purchasing power.
- JamesBarney 4y ago
  > * America's most obese city It's now #27th. This is mostly driven by being suburban, southern, relatively poorer city. > * A huge sprawl with bad traffic and poor public transportation There are only a few cities in the U.S. that have good public transportation and while it's really nice it's also super expensive to live there. Look there is no reason to live in Houston if you're rich. It's much nicer to live in a prettier city with great public transit and driving distance from some amazing natural features. But if you're not rich and you want to be able to raise a family, own a house, and experience nice entertainment on 50k a year, Houston is a wonderful city.

by nilkn 4y ago

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

I'm sure Houston works for you, but it just isn't the happening place on many people's radars. We could split hairs about its benefits; e.g. * Economy comes and goes with natural resource boom bust cycle. * America's most obese city * A huge sprawl with bad traffic and poor public transportation There are other cities that match some of those qualities that I don't much care for, but I can see why a lot of people wouldn't mind and go for the cheap housing there as a decent trade off. But in my original comment, my only point was that you can't judge how great a city is based on how cheap its real estate is (and the correlation often goes the opposite way).

nilkn 4y ago
The most expensive house listing for Gary right now seems to be for $575k; for Houston, it's $20 million, a difference of 35x. The average sale price in Piney Point Village is apparently just under $3.7 million (https://www.har.com/pineypointvillage/realestate https://www.har.com/pineypointvillage/realestate) and the average rent is $8500/month. So on and so forth. I think you're imagining all Houston real estate as cheap/affordable, when in reality the city has lots of extremely expensive real estate. It just also has affordable housing due to widespread construction of townhomes, apartments, and condos. Something like Gary just isn't comparable.
- selectodude 4y ago
  Gary is a suburb of Chicago and comparing it to Greater Houston seems a bit absurd. Chicagoland has many units that are listed for $15+ million.
  - nilkn 4y ago
    I think you replied to the wrong person. I did not choose Gary as a comparison; rather, I explained why it was not an appropriate comparison.
- Maursault 4y ago
  > I think you're imagining all Houston real estate as cheap/affordable, when in reality the city has lots of extremely expensive real estate. I wonder what sinking into the Gulf of Mexico is going to do for property values.
  - orangepurple 4y ago
    You're thinking of Galveston which everyone abandoned to go to Houston a decade ago
    - Maursault 4y ago
      Was the article about Galveston or Houston?
      - orangepurple 4y ago
        Galveston will sink way before Houston
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      Parts of Houston sinking is the original topic of this HN post, this debating of Houston's success is just a tangent.
briandear 4y ago
Fact check: Houston is not even in the top ten for obesity. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/10-most-overweight-us-cities.html https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/1...
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/houston-is-americas-fattest-city/ https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/houston-is-americas-fa... I'm not sure how the criteria are different, the above is looking at big cities. The other list seems to have a bunch of small cities (e.g. Jackson MS). The difference could also be in study year. Neither list is very surprising to me.
  - JamesBarney 4y ago
    The OP's post is from a hospital, your post links to a survey from a "Men's Fitness" magazine.
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      Again, it is including a lot of smaller cities. So ya, we all know Jackson Mississippi is fatter than Houston Texas, but...do we really put Jackson in the same class of city as Houston?
      - JamesBarney 4y ago
        In a list of fattest cities i imagine they'd be compared. In the list of fattest top 10 major metroplexes i imagine it wouldn't. (I also assume it's the fattest major metropolitan area?
rurban 4y ago
Exactly. I could easily afford living in River Oaks for a third of the price as in SF or the Valley. With much higher quality.
- nilkn 4y ago
  It's definitely not a third of the price. There are definitely parts of the Bay Area that are more expensive, but certainly not every part. It's pretty close to Menlo Park in affordability or lack thereof. Property taxes are also 2x or more what they are in the Bay Area so you may be overestimating your purchasing power.
JamesBarney 4y ago
> * America's most obese city It's now #27th. This is mostly driven by being suburban, southern, relatively poorer city. > * A huge sprawl with bad traffic and poor public transportation There are only a few cities in the U.S. that have good public transportation and while it's really nice it's also super expensive to live there. Look there is no reason to live in Houston if you're rich. It's much nicer to live in a prettier city with great public transit and driving distance from some amazing natural features. But if you're not rich and you want to be able to raise a family, own a house, and experience nice entertainment on 50k a year, Houston is a wonderful city.